Marathon Training

Ok, so I'm not doing a full marathon. A half. But still. . .That's 13.1 miles! I have never been a big runner. In high school I was big into weight lifting and track. I threw the shot put and the discus. For our warm up in track, we'd have to run a lap around the track - just one - and I always died afterward! Haha! My senior year of high school my mom, brother, and I moved to Colorado. My cousin was on the cross country team so I decided to join her. I was one of the slowest people on the team and I think I ran ONE race without stopping to walk. Since then I would run occasionally to stay active and since having kids, I've put on weight and have become very out of shape. The training schedule I'm on now has me running 4 days a week with different distances each time. This last Saturday I completed 8 miles. It was amazing and I feel absolutely incredible. And I've been doing a lot of thinking. . .I may be about 35 lbs heavier than I'd like to be, but I'm pretty much in the best shape of my life. That is, if you don't count my occasional knee pain, shin splints (which are pretty much gone - thank goodness!), and blood blister on my toe. So, I've decided to not be so hard on myself with my weight. I'm still trying my best to make wise and healthy choices with my food and I keep losing little by little so that's making me very happy. It's also still a main goal of mine and hasn't been put on "the back burner", but I'm on this new 'high' and I'm just soaking it in. Besides, how many people do you know (overweight or not) that can run 8 miles??? I know a small handful but not very many. (and if you know a lot, just shush!)

I do have to give props to my girl, though. I don't think I'd be doing this at all if it weren't for you. (you know who you are) You are my rock. You encourage me in more ways than you know. You push me beyond what I can push myself and you keep me positive when I start giving myself a hard time. THANK YOU! I couldn't ask for a better running partner. We run well together.

The big race is June 12th. I feel so confident that I can do this. And when this one is over, I'll definitely find more to do. My nephew and I are planning to run in the Starlight run this year (it's a 5k) and then my mom, sister, and I are going to walk in the 4th of July parade (also a 5k, I believe). I'm so excited to be able to do all of this!